, 1887-06-04
Rabyah'A Last Eide
(EOHcImis I from xe10,d n1oe

archer OF Khuznuh, n mighty man TO
bend tho bow, and he asked the archer,
Hast SioH mn arrow left, my son?''
And che man looked to where Eabyah
was. and replied. fcarfully, 'One only
and it is for my iife."
But Nubaishah SAIL: ''Thy life Is safe
now. Shoot tho arrow, my son; shoot
at the gray mare"
And the mare saw the arrow coming.
and lcaped aside; and Eabyah fell upon
his face. Then, for the first time, oil
the men of Sulaim knew that he was
dead, and they sent up q great shout.
And they went up to where no lay,
and looked upon him, and wondered,
and they spoiled him of his helmet and
his broken shirt Of mail and his lance
and sword and his sandals. But the
marc had fed toward the tents Of the
Beni-Firaz, and non might overtako her.
And swart Nubaishah muttered:
There wns no other like him among
the men Of Tiraz. / almost repent me
to havo slain him." And q wild man of
Sulaim, marveling, smoto the foot Of his
spear into the dead mans eye, and cried
aloud, / the u~ncouthness Of his admra-
ton, God curse theei-a man who de-
fcndcth his women even after he II
deadp'
But QUINN Saiyar and the women had
reached tho tents Of tho Dcni-Ffraz, and
aroused tho tribe. And tho best men Of
tho camp sprung to horses in haste, and
rode fercely to tho Pass Of Ghazal; but
they only found Rabyah lying there,
naked and dead, and the vultures %circling
above him. And leaving him there, they
pursued so ~furiously after the sons Of
Sulaim that the log way smoked beneath
them; yet they could not overtake them.
So thoy rode back to where Rabyuh
lay, and they buried him there, with
great mourning, in the place Of his last
and greatest deed. And they built above
Jim q hill OF black stones to mark thu
spot, and In the midst thereof, at tho
summit, they set up a great white stone,
shaped Like the back of q camel.
And never thereafter-until tho days
OF the Prophet-did any Arab Of any tribe
pass that way who did not sacrifice a
camel in honor of the valiant one who
had defended his women even after ho
was dead. Except, indeed, Hnfs, son of
Al-Ahnaf, who, having but one camel,
could not make the sacrifice; but he com
posed an immortal poem in honor. OF
Rabyah, and his verses are still in the
mouths Of the Arabian people.)
And never O son of Firaz passed that
way to war who did not cry out INTO
Rabyah: LA tab'adanl Abide with usi
Be with us this day, o Rabyahl'
And after Islam, not less than in the
Days of Ignorance, the wives of the des-
ert horsemen prayed that they might be.
come mothers Of brave tall boys worthy
to bean Rabyah's name.
And whenever, in time Of foray, or in
days of i'll fortune Of war, or amid the
ghastly perils of desert travel, women
found themselves face to face with tho
fear of shame, they would cry out tho
name Of him upon whom no woman had
ever called vainly in those wild, dark
days before Islam.
And Islam itself, spreading like q holy
fire east and west, 200 days journey
from India to the Sea of Darkness, boro
abroad his name, and flashed it far into
tho black south, making it known unto
the blue eyed Touareg, whose camels
dance to the sound of matchmaking it
known to those swart sultan's whose do
mains do border upon the unknown lakes
of Afrikia-Lafcadio Hearn in Harper's
Bazaar.